5 Hidden iPhone Camera Features You Should Be Using – BGR

Every time Apple releases a new device and software update, people are generally excited about changes to the iPhone camera. It is, after all, one of the frequently opened built-in apps that most users access daily.

In the past year alone, the iPhone 17 models and iOS 26 introduced new camera features like dual capture, Center Stage for the front camera, and the option to turn off “Swipe to Open Camera” on the Lock Screen. These became fan favorites almost immediately, with many raving about them online.

But the iPhone camera offers more features beyond what most people tend to use. They might not be as heavily promoted as the other main functionalities, but they’re still worth exploring. To get you started, here are five of the lesser-known iPhone camera features you might want to try out. Some of them have been around for years, while others are new additions.

There are times when you’re ready to take a photo with your iPhone, only to realize that you’d like a video instead. Normally, you’d need to lift your finger off the capture button to go to Video mode before recording. But the iPhone features a less disruptive way to record videos right from Photo mode. To do so, simply long-press the capture button to start and release to stop recording. If you’re recording a longer video, though, swipe to the right to lock it. This way, you won’t have to keep your finger on the button. When you lock the recording, you can also multitask and snap photos like how you would in Video mode. Just press the smaller capture button on the right as many times as you need to get your shot.

Besides being handy during spontaneous moments, this nifty iPhone camera feature comes with another benefit: different video aspect ratios. The Video mode is set to 16:9 by default, and you can’t change it. The Photo mode videos, on the other hand, can be configured to any of the available aspect ratios for photos. Before starting recording, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the menu panel. Then, tap on Aspect to switch to your preferred ratio.

While this iPhone camera trick is pretty convenient, it does have one downside. If you shoot in 16:9 aspect ratio, the quality is fixed to 1080p. In 4:3 and 1:1 aspect ratios, the quality is increased slightly to 1440p. This can be a huge disadvantage if you normally record your iPhone videos in 4K, especially for content creation. For casual users, the lower resolution might work fine.

When Apple introduced the Camera Control button on iPhone 16, it was designed as a shortcut to the camera app by default. Just press the button to launch the Camera app, and press it again to snap your picture. If you press and hold it instead, you’ll start a video recording. But what if you use a different camera app? Say, you like posting stories on Instagram, or prefer adding Snapchat lenses to your photos. The good news is, the iPhone’s Camera Control is actually customizable, and you can set it to open a third-party camera app. Here’s how to do so:

1. Go to the Settings app.
2. Choose Camera.
3. Under System Settings at the top, tap Camera Control.
4. Head over to Camera, under Launch Camera.
5. Select which camera app you want the Camera Control to open.

If you don’t have any third-party camera apps installed, the only options you’ll see are the built-in camera-based utilities: Camera, Code Scanner for scanning QR codes, and Magnifier for magnifying objects and text. If you do have third-party apps, make sure they have permission to access your camera. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use them. After setting what app the Camera Control button will launch, you can still use normal controls. For instance, pressing it once will take a picture, and sliding your finger on it will zoom in. The controls might differ from app to app, though.

If you ever needed to take photos hands-free, you’ll be glad to know that your AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 and 3 now work as a camera remote when paired with iOS/iPadOS 26 devices. But not everyone owns the latest pair of AirPods, or brings them along all the time. In such cases, you can just use a Siri voice command to snap your photos. Simply say, “Siri, Say cheese.” It’s important to note that this isn’t a feature built into the iPhone Camera app itself. It’s actually an iPhone Shortcut that you’d have to manually add to your Shortcuts app. The Shortcuts app is pretty intimidating to use, but Say Cheese is a pre-made Shortcut, so it’s much easier to work with. Follow these steps to setup this Shortcut:

1. Launch the Shortcuts app.
2. Go to the Gallery tab at the bottom.
3. Search for “say.”
4. Tap on the Say Cheese Shortcut.
5. Press Add Shortcut.

Make sure you also have Siri switched on. From Settings, head over to Apple Intelligence & Siri. Then, under Siri Requests, select Talk to Siri. Set it to any of the options other than Off. To use the voice command, just activate Siri anywhere on your phone and say, “Say cheese.” It will automatically snap a photo of whatever you’re pointing your phone at — without launching the Camera app or showing you a preview. When you first use the voice command, you’ll also be prompted to allow the Shortcut to save an image to the photo album. Just choose Always Allow. If you’re comfortable tinkering with Shortcuts, feel free to edit the Shortcut to show the camera preview and add a timer. There’s even an option to use Say Cheese in the front camera.

By now, you probably already know you can scan QR codes with your iPhone camera. It’s one of the essential iPhone features you should be using, especially with everyday things like restaurant menus and payments now coming in QR code form. Additionally, your iPhone camera can actually scan text. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open your camera in Photo mode.
2. Point your phone at the text you want to scan, making sure the entirety of the text is in frame.
3. Wait for the yellow brackets to appear.
4. If the brackets are around the wrong text — maybe you need to capture just the phone number in a music festival poster, zoom in to isolate the text you want.
5. Tap the scanner icon next to the zoom controls.

Depending on the text you scanned, you’ll be presented with different options. For instance, if you scanned a phone number, you’ll see a button on the bottom-left corner to call it directly. You can also message the number, add it to your contacts, or copy it. Simply tap on the phone number to open the menu. If you scanned a URL, you can press the Open Link icon in the bottom left to jump to your mobile browser. A context menu will also pop up, where you can share or copy the link. For regular text — like school notes or book excerpts, you can copy the text, select specific portions, translate it, look up the word in the dictionary, or search the web using the text. Keep in mind that this feature doesn’t work for all languages yet. It currently supports several, including French, Japanese, Turkish, Spanish, and English, to name a few.

On iPhone 16 and later, the Camera Control button comes in handy not only for quickly launching the camera app and taking photos but for zooming in and out. It’s preconfigured to simply switch between the 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x zooms. But there’s also a hidden iPhone camera setting that lets you zoom continuously from the Camera Control button like how you would when you press and hold on the zoom controls on the screen. To enable this iPhone camera feature, follow this guide:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Camera.
3. Tap Camera Control at the top.
4. Under Controls, toggle on Camera Adjustments.
5. Press Customize.
6. Make sure Zoom is selected.
7. While you’re here, uncheck all the other controls you might not be using to minimize clutter.
8. Press on the Camera Control button to launch the Camera app.
9. Lightly press two times on the Camera Control button.
10. Swipe on the button to go to Zoom.

Now, when you slide your finger on the Camera Control button, you’ll see the continuous zoom slider, which can go up to your phone’s maximum zoom — for instance, 40x on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This becomes the default control whenever you swipe on the button, unless you switch to a different camera control like Exposure or Styles.